<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>White Knuckles by kattastic99</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27305221">White Knuckles</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kattastic99/pseuds/kattastic99'>kattastic99</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>In Death Are You Redeemed [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>RWBY</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adam Taurus Redemption Arc, Branding, Drinking, Gen, I pulled my shoulder writing again, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, probably many crimes, the realistic consequences of using guns for movement, uhh</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 19:47:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,883</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27305221</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kattastic99/pseuds/kattastic99</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Yang has heard that a certain somebody is alive, and is going to make sure that certain somebody is unwell. Meanwhile, Adam struggles with both the very deserved consequences of his past and the inconvenience of PTSD during battle.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>In Death Are You Redeemed [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1993420</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>White Knuckles</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Night patrols; Yang’s least favorite mission type, and there were some pretty awful mission types on the boards. One couldn’t help but think of poor Juane and the army of thirsty moms that plagued him day by day. Solo night patrols were even worse, and in all honesty Yang was pretty sure that she wasn’t actually qualified to do them since rule number one was don’t do missions alone unless you seriously don’t need to. Clover was qualified to take solo missions, all the Ace-Ops were, but when you were that high in rank then you were always assigned high priority group missions. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Solo missions were rare and probably going to be phased out completely sooner rather than later, which is why Yang had to take this one the second she saw it. Solo night patrol in Mantle, in a high tension low income district; nobody that lived in this area wanted to see an Atlas huntsman or huntress in their neighborhood for a variety of reasons. Yang couldn’t exactly blame them, either, there was a reason solo missions still happened around here and she tried not to think about it. Hard not to, though, since it was pretty obvious. Lot of faunus lived here, and a lot of very poor citizens. The whole district was considered a criminal hotspot to justify continued military presence, and Yang may have been here on paper to keep the Grimm from zeroing in on all the misery but she knew that she was here as a warning; behave, because we are here and we are watching. The fact this was one of very few remaining solo missions consistently available, so there wouldn’t be anybody ‘reliable’ to report any misconduct….</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That phasing out of solo missions couldn’t come soon enough, but Yang had needed to take this one while she could. As much as she hated it, on every level, it was going to allow her to do something she very much shouldn’t be doing, because rules were often constrictive and not for the benefit of the people and that was doubly true in Mantle and Yang had never in her life been one to shy away from doing what she had to regardless of legality. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adam Taurus was alive, and in Mantle, and Yang needed to fix at </span>
  <em>
    <span>least </span>
  </em>
  <span>one of those things. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey Seth!” she heard someone say loudly and drunkenly further down the street she was patrolling down. Yang ducked into a narrow alley immediately and kept her ears strained. The drunken stranger was answered by a deep voice Yang would never, in her </span>
  <em>
    <span>life, </span>
  </em>
  <span>forget the sound of. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not actually a medical professional, Paz, I’m not holding your hair back for you,” said the voice from her actual nightmares. She almost wanted to laugh, because how else do you react to this kinda thing? But she was trying to hide so she kept quiet. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Nahh, no, that’s not, h-hold on,” the stranger who was apparently named Paz said, and then, yeah that was definitely the sound of someone vomiting into the gutter. “Okay, okay. Yeah, Seth, hey, look I had something to ask you,” Paz valiantly continued saying after vomiting in front of the person they were talking to. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, you missed my shoes so I suppose I can be polite and hear you out.” Yang kind of really hated how normal he sounded. She was actually a little surprised how much she hated it. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So like, faunus, right they all, you all, yall got the one thing, like. That one bit, the animal bit? Is it </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> just the one or do you uh, do you got somethin’ super cool in your pants?” Well, hey, at least their vomit wasn’t the </span>
  <em>
    <span>only</span>
  </em>
  <span> thing in the gutter. Woulda been nice if she hadn’t had to hear that, but that was the price you paid for eavesdropping. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I really shouldn’t have been polite, I </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> shouldn’t have,” she heard Adam say with less murder in his voice than Yang would have expected, but she could definitely still hear a little murder. “Try not to fall and choke in your own vomit Paz, I don’t want to have to deal with being the last person to see you alive.” Then his footsteps were heading down the street, while Paz spluttered out something rude and waddled in the opposite direction. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>When he passed the alley Yang was hiding in, she spoke up nice and loud and a little more hoarsely than she’d wanted to. “You seem to be doing well,” holy shit why was that what she went with, “with all things considered.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adam paused, turning towards the alley he’d heard the voice come from, and- oh, he wasn’t wearing a mask. She saw him quirk his branded brow as he called out “How incredibly specific, mystery alleyway mugger,” he said, and she realized that he hadn’t recognized her voice. That pissed her off more than it should have, and she walked out into the street light.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“We both know you don’t have anything worth stealing,” she said with a scowl. Without a mask, Yang got to see his face slacken briefly with shock before immediately hardening with an anger she felt was very hypocritical of him. Then she noticed a couple of details she hadn’t spotted from so far back; his branded eye wasn’t red anymore, it looked normal but as she stared she noticed that it must have been fake because it wasn’t reflecting the light. His hair was a lot shorter, making his horns stand out more and one of them was a silvery grey from the midway point to the tip. Looked like a cap for a broken horn, which she didn’t remember doing but was going to take credit for anyways. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What are you doing here?” he spat out. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Yang uncrossed her arms. “I’m here to do my job.” Adam’s scowl loosened with a bit of confusion, right up until her gauntlets unfolded, at which point he scowled again and reached into his jacket and pulled out that weird new mask Blake had told her about. It slid on over his horns, but it still didn’t hide his mouth. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t want to fight you,” he growled out as he reached for the bottom of his sheathe with his left hand. Since it was strapped to his back at an angle, it was the closest option. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Yang scoffed. “That’s funny,” she said as she glared at him and raised her arms in a fighting stance. “See, I’m pretty sure I didn’t ask you.” Yang swung her arms backward and fired, launching herself towards him. Adam grabbed his sheathe and his sword flew out of it, his outstretched right hand grabbing it mid air and swinging it into place to block the kick she’d aimed at his face. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adam was pushed backwards by the force of it, but Yang fired her left gauntlet and spun through the air to use the momentum to slam her right gauntlet into his chest, sending him flying. He landed on his feet with his sheathe pulled off the clip on his back and held steady in his left hand, sword at the ready. “Leave me alone, Yang!” he shouted, and she slammed her gauntlet into his sword before firing it, pushing them apart and leaving him open to the shot from her other gauntlet. His aura flashed as it blocked the bullet, but he still grunted at the impact. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What was it you said?” she shouted as she sent her fists flying, each strike blocked by his sword. “You made your choice,” she said through clenched teeth as she spun a kick at his side and sent him rolling. He sprang to his feet just in time for her metal fist to slam into his chest again, but he caught himself on a lamp post with his feet and launched off it, his sword swinging into her crossed gauntlets as she blocked it. “And I’ve made mine!” Yang finished as she swung her foot upwards and caught him in the stomach, forcing him to backflip before he slammed face first into the street. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He was panting, and that was weird as hell but she didn’t care. “Y-yeah, and we both remember what happened right after I said that.” Adam kept playing the defense and Yang was getting sick of it; he’d only attacked her once and even that was just on a rebound. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Yang scowled at him. “See, that’s what’s got me confused. I remember me and Blake finally killing you, and yet for some reason, here you are!” Yang dashed forwards again, her fists practically a blur and even then he was able to block every swing. “We killed you and you </span>
  <em>
    <span>still</span>
  </em>
  <span> won’t leave us alone!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adam growled and the world dimmed, his sword glowing like a blue neon sign before he suddenly dashed towards her, stony grey after-shades with a red outline left behind him in stages as he used his semblance to close the distance in a single instant. This time it was his sheathe that slammed into her, right into her side where she wasn’t expecting it and she went flying. Yang fired her gauntlet and stopped her path mid-flight and landed on her feet. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I want NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU!” he screamed, and the half of his face she could see was contorted in rage. Then he finally went on a real offensive, his sword practically singing as it sliced through the air and slammed into her gauntlets over and over and over again. Each blow pushed her back half a step, and no matter which way she dodged his strikes never missed. Even in the middle of it all, Yang noticed the way that he wasn’t really trying; he was swinging in the same arc every time, not even trying to get around her block, just swinging wildly at the same spot over and over. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Yang’s eyes went red, and her semblance coursed through her body like a wildfire. The sheer hypocrisy on display was setting her off more than anything he’d said or done before, and she punched him in the face so hard that his mask went flying. He looked furious beyond belief, and Yang found it funny that they finally agreed on something. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Without his mask, though, she was able to see his expression when she darted forwards and reached out with her right hand to grab at his collar. She’d wanted to yank him forwards and head-butt him, but with her semblance going so hard her prosthetic hand was literally glowing hot. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She’d grabbed his collar alright, but before she could pull him forward the look of rage on his face shattered into a desperate and cloying fear, and he pulled backwards so suddenly that his foot slid out from under him and she let go before she could get pulled down with him. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He scrambled gracelessly to his feet, and he looked at her with an expression she couldn’t place. Whatever he saw in her face, though, be it confusion or surprise or the sudden dawning of understanding, set him off like you wouldn’t believe. If he’d been furious before, now he was downright apoplectic. He didn’t even say anything as he dashed forward with his semblance, his blue sword glowing bright and moving so fast she was barely able to grab it. When she did, though, his expression changed again and he kicked her in the chest, jumping off her and falling back as she regained her balance. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He was panting heavily now, but Yang was barely even winded. What the hell was going on? “What’s the matter, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Seth?</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Yang asked sarcastically, “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost or something!” She scowled. “I’m the one who should get to look like that.” Adam didn’t rise to her bait, however, he just stood there, sheathe in one hand and sword in the other as he practically gasped for breath. A lot of emotions flashed across his face, and then he did something that made Yang want to turn him inside out.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adam’s sword slid into his sheathe with a resounding click, and he swung it onto his back where it clipped into place. “Why are you even here, Yang?” he asked and his voice sounded so </span>
  <em>
    <span>hollow,</span>
  </em>
  <span> so goddamned </span>
  <em>
    <span>tired</span>
  </em>
  <span> that Yang actually paused for a moment. “I’ve left you alone, I’ve minded my own business, I-” Adam seemed to choke up for a second, and while Yang was feeling bad she was even angrier at him for making her feel that way after everything he’d done. He didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>get</span>
  </em>
  <span> to be pitied, not after the shit he’d pulled. “I let it </span>
  <em>
    <span>go,</span>
  </em>
  <span> Yang. Wasn’t that what you two fucking WANTED?!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It was the tired, hollow anger in his voice that made her lower her gauntlets, her semblance cooling down and dying out with a soft hiss of cooling metal. Because, yeah. That was all they’d wanted, was for him to finally just let it go and leave them the fuck alone. But he </span>
  <em>
    <span>didn’t,</span>
  </em>
  <span> he’d kept going and they had to kill him and he had the audacity to survive and stand in front of her. “You didn’t, Adam! You made your choice!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adam screamed at her. “AND IT FUCKING KILLED ME!” His face was contorted in rage again, and his clenched fist was shaking violently. “Just because I got back up doesn’t mean I didn’t die in that fucking cave Yang!” Adam stopped, and raised his fist up to his mouth and let out a violent cough that went on for at least five seconds. When he continued, he was wheezing. “I want, Yang, </span>
  <em>
    <span>nothing to do with you.</span>
  </em>
  <span> I want nothing to do with you,” he said again with a wheezing gasp as he tried to stand up straight after doubling over during that coughing fit, “and I want nothing to do with- with </span>
  <em>
    <span>her.</span>
  </em>
  <span> I honestly hope that I never see either of you again.” He stood there, hands shaking and struggling to breathe, and Yang just stared at him. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She swallowed. “I’m going to get you, Adam. I don’t know why you’re here or what you’re doing but I know it can’t be good, and I know it can’t be legal, and I </span>
  <em>
    <span>will</span>
  </em>
  <span> see you locked up.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He scoffed, and turned around to pick up the mask that had landed a few feet behind where he was standing. He tucked it into his jacket again as he turned back to face her. “You can’t arrest a dead man, Yang.” The world dimmed faster than she could blink, and before she could even raise her gauntlets again he was gone, crackling after-shades already fading out of existence as he dashed away into the labyrinth of alleys and back-ways Mantle was so full of. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Yang just stood there for a few moments, trying to regulate her breathing. She was interrupted by a civilian knocking against a trash can to get her attention. “Hey, huntress bitch,” the stranger said, “your moves are </span>
  <em>
    <span>super</span>
  </em>
  <span> cool and all but your little gun maneuvers shot my fucking window out.” Her eyes slid to the side of him, and saw that the bar window had three bullet holes in it, probably from when she’d stopped herself mid air. Yang sighed and approached him, trying not to be upset at the way he gathered himself up in obvious apprehension. She reached into her pocket and handed him a card. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“This has my information, give it to the repair company you hire and we’ll foot the bill.” The guy looked at her like she was trying to trick her but eventually grabbed her card and walked back into his bar. Didn’t even thank her. Not that she blamed him. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Halfway across the city, Adam stopped to catch his breath. That turned into him coughing into his hand pretty quick, and by the time he could finally breathe again he was slumped against the wall of some random store or something. His lungs were on fire. When he pulled his hand away, he half expected there to be blood on his glove and he was more than relieved that there wasn’t any. “Gods,” he muttered, and holy shit his voice was wrecked. He’d definitely overdone, well, pretty much every single thing about that, but. There wasn’t a but, actually, he needed to get to Pietro before he collapsed in the street and woke up missing his last kidney. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adam still expected there to be a bell when he entered Pietro’s ground floor office place. “You know,” he rasped out with a voice more akin to a garbage disposal than a living person, “I always expect there to be a little bell ringing when I come in here.” Pietro was already scuttling out from behind his desk with a look of concern on his face that Adam very much didn’t deserve. Adam tried not to wobble as he walked up to the examination table that he already knew Pietro was going to ask him to sit on, pulling his gloves off and stuffing them into his pocket before he climbed up and sat down on it. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“This cramped little office certainly does have a ‘mom and pop store’ vibe to it, doesn’t it?” Pietro said with a worried smile as he grabbed a stethoscope off a cluttered desk. He popped the things into his ears and pressed the disk against Adam’s chest after gesturing for the faunus to unbutton his jacket. Adam didn’t react to the touch of cold metal. “Take as deep a breath as you can,” Pietro said softly, and Adam did so. Unlike the day he woke up after the surgery, it didn’t hurt to breathe until his lungs couldn’t expand anymore. “And out,” Pietro muttered. After Adam did so, he put the stethoscope back down on a different but equally cluttered desk. “Well, there’s no fluid in your lungs from the sounds of it so you should be fine. </span>
  <em>
    <span>With rest,</span>
  </em>
  <span>” he added as sternly as he was able to. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adam smiled apologetically. “I know, Pietro, I’m sorry. I just went down to the Frozen Lily to see Veridian, saw Paztel on my way out,” Adam grimaced for a moment, “never fun, really, but I was polite-” Pietro chuckled, and Adam frowned. “I was! They made a rude comment and I left.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Pietro’s chair carried him back over to his desk while Adam got up and followed him, buttoning his jacket up as he walked. “While I’m sure you did, that doesn’t explain why your lungs gave out.” Pietro was worried, Adam could tell he was but he didn’t understand it. Adam struggled a lot with Pietro; the man was human and even an Atlesian elite, but he was kind and he genuinely worried about him and Adam couldn’t figure out </span>
  <em>
    <span>why.</span>
  </em>
  <span> He was dreading the day Pietro found out who he really was, because it didn’t matter how kind a man he was; Adam Taurus did not deserve to be helped, and he did not deserve to be saved. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adam accepted the cough drop Pietro fished out of his desk and stuffed it inside his cheek. He tried not to show how happy he was that it was caramel flavored. “I uh. I ran into someone from my past,” he said as he tried to meet Pietro’s soft gaze and failed after two seconds. “Someone I hurt. They weren’t very happy to see me, to say the least. I don’t blame her, but she couldn’t have picked a worse time to show up.” Pietro was looking at him rather intensely and he balked. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Seth, what happened to your coat?” Pietro asked quietly, and Adam reached up to touch his collar where Yang had grabbed him. He knew it was charred, could feel it without even looking at it so he decided not to look at it at all. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“She </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> wasn’t happy to see me, Pietro. I, I don’t want to get into it, but. Well,” he looked at the floor, “you know I used to be a different person, before I was attacked. As awful as it was, that was probably the best thing that could have happened to me.” His death was inevitable, on the path he’d chosen. He knew that now, and he was still unsure if he was happy he survived it, but it was an objective fact that it had changed him for the better. Not like it could have changed him for the worse.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Pietro was looking at him weird again. “Seth, I normally wouldn’t be so cavalier about this but I worry that it’s taking a toll on you. I know who you used to be, and I’ve seen no reason to do anything about it. You’re not a threat to Mantle, Seth. What you do is your decision, and unless you give me reason to believe that you are a threat to the general public, I’m not going to say a thing.” Adam’s heart was pounding in his throat, but Pietro was just as soft and warm as he always had been. “Seth Umber is a nice young man. A little rough around the edges, sure,” Pietro said with a smile, “but I’ve been more than happy to help him and have his company.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adam swallowed. “I-,” he started, stopped, and swallowed again as he stared at the far wall. “Thank you, Pietro.” Those damned emotions were stronger than ever, like a river rapid in his stomach wearing away at him from the inside. He finally looked Pietro in the eyes, and did his best to smile. “You’ve been kinder to me than I deserve.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Pietro waved his hand. “People don’t deserve or not deserve kindness, Seth,” he said as his chair walked him over to a cabinet Adam had never even noticed before. “They simply get it or don’t. And, yes, there are reasons they might be given or refused it,” Pietro opened one of the doors and Adam caught a glimpse of boxes and jars that didn’t look very medical before Pietro closed it. “And yes, sometimes those reasons are of the person’s own creation,” Pietro said as he returned to his desk with a little cardboard box with colorful squares all over it. He put it down and opened it, and revealed its contents of caramel candies. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Pietro plucked out one shaped like a little flower and offered it to him. “But people can make their own decisions about who they want to be kind to, and you will find that the reasons some people refuse to be kind might be the very reason another will choose to do so.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adam took the candy, and he popped it into his mouth after a moment of hesitation. It began melting almost immediately and Adam swallowed the cough drop so it wouldn’t ruin this treat. “I really, truly, cannot thank you enough Pietro.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Pietro chuckled in that soft, warm way of his. “Your company is thanks enough, Seth.” Adam was drowning in those emotions, now, and he had to turn and pretend to be very interested in one of the books in the bookshelf Pietro had down there. Then Adam heard the door open, and when he turned to look at Pietro he was smiling at whoever had shown up. Then that smile turned to shock, and he said “What happened to your prosthetic? Here, come let me look at it,” and he was scuttling out of view behind the corner since Adam’s fake favorite bookshelf was tucked away in a little hallway that lead to the stairs. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He would have turned to actually start looking through the books if he hadn’t heard Yang say “Had a run in with a scumbag, got a little carried away. Is it really that bad?” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe if he went up the stairs she wouldn’t hear him- No, no that was too risky, if he just stayed put surely Pietro would keep her from seeing him. Adam tried to stay as still and quiet as he could, even tried to quiet his breathing. Pietro’s voice rang out like the sunrise as he said “Well, I suppose not, it just startled me. It would have taken an immense amount of heat for the metal to shift in color like this, what happened?” Adam could hear the soft clattering of tools being taken out, and then the sound of metal being scraped and cleaned. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Like I said, I got carried away. Must have channeled my semblance too hard.” There was a beat of silence, Adam assumed Pietro had used one of his Looks, and then Yang said “Alright I got a </span>
  <em>
    <span>lot</span>
  </em>
  <span> carried away. I just- You know about the White Fang, right?” He could have sworn he </span>
  <em>
    <span>heard</span>
  </em>
  <span> Pietro nod at Yang. “So, Blake ran with them way back but she split when they got all terrorist, but this douchebag she used to date just kept coming after her. You ever hear of Adam Taurus? Cause that was the douchebag.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“The name is certainly familiar, yes,” he heard Pietro say. “He was on Atlas’ most wanted list for a while, before he was marked as eliminated. Stole a lot of dust over the years, didn’t he?” He heard Yang scoff. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Killed a lot of innocent people too,” she muttered darkly, “and then he started stalking Blake. At- at Beacon….” There was a pause. “When Beacon fell, he was there, did you know that?” Pietro didn’t nod, he hummed a yes instead and Adam knew he’d done it for his sake and the rapids in his stomach surged even harder. “Well, yeah, so he was there, and he hurt Blake and I tried to stop him.” The soft scraping of tools stopped. “And that’s why I have this.” Another pause. “Thanks for the tune-up, by the way. And uh, sorry to bother you so late.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Pietro chuckled. “Oh it was nothing young Yang, don’t worry. Just try to be more careful with that semblance and your arm, at least until I have the chance to tinker with it again and see if I can add some heat-sinks!” Adam heard Yang chuckle too, and then her footsteps carried her away from his hiding spot and out the door. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Pietro came back into view as he returned to his desk and hummed a little tune as he started organizing some papers. Adam waited a full minute and a half before he spoke up, and Pietro had been happy to wait for him. “She grabbed my collar,” he said. Pietro paused in his work and turned to him, gesturing for him to come closer and talk, all with that same soft smile. And he did, his legs a little unsure and his hands a little shaky, but he walked up to Pietro and sat down in a rickety old office chair that Adam was pretty sure came with the desk. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“That explains the burn, then,” Pietro said, and Adam was beginning to wonder if he would ever understand this man. He was so casual, and concerned, even though he was clearly fond of Yang, and he obviously knew everything so why- Adam cut that train of thought off then and there. “Do you need any burn cream?” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adam shook his head. “No, she didn’t actually touch me. I think she was going to head butt me or something, but….” Adam took a deep breath again, quietly pleased that he didn’t cough this time. “The, the sound, and the smell, and.” He paused again. “Glowing hot metal, and heat, and the sound.” Adam brushed his fingers over the burn on his collar again. It was directly beneath his left eye. His gaze was aimed at the wall, but Adam didn’t see it. He wasn’t looking somewhere that existed, not outside of his own mind. “I jerked back and fell, she let go so I didn’t pull her down with me. The fight didn’t last much longer.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He sighed, then, as the exhaustion of the day rushed up and caught him. Even that river inside his soul seemed to be getting tired. “Why didn’t you tell her?” His voice may not have been hoarse anymore, but that sentence still left him in a rasp. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Pietro just kept smiling at him, and he opened the box and offered him another caramel shaped like a little pyramid. “Well, there was no reason to. Of course, Yang also didn’t tell me anything about who she fought. Just brought up a figure from her past and left. That has implications all its own, doesn’t it?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adam frowned as he sucked on his new caramel candy. He was gonna get addicted to these things and he had a feeling Pietro was going to enable that. He paused, thinking in silence for a few moments, and Pietro waited patiently for him to do so. Then he finally spoke up. “Where did you get these candies?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>When Adam finally made it to his very shabby apartment that he was using as a safe house in Mantle, he had the name of a candy store and a bag of candies that he actually bought with lien. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Lien that he stole.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Huge shoutout to AndyAstral for talking with me about my billions of ideas and tipping me off to Yang's semblance and metal hand as a way to trigger his PTSD </p>
<p>Unfortunately for me, Adam reacts to things like his own vulnerability and emotional turmoil by getting really fucking angry. Also unfortunately for me: Everything that's happening, I can't believe this is still happening, god I hope I won't be doing this for the next four years or something</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>